


The Most Important Meal of the Day

by Jsq86



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Mortal Instruments Series - Cassandra Clare, The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Breakfast, M/M, Malec, Taki's, i guess, i'm a one trick pony apparently, meet cute, teen and up for a swear or two, why do all my fics sound the same
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2020-04-29
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:47:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23906395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jsq86/pseuds/Jsq86
Summary: Alec meets a handsome fancy man while getting some breakfast
Relationships: Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood
Comments: 23
Kudos: 150





	The Most Important Meal of the Day

**Author's Note:**

> I have no idea why I wrote this 🙃
> 
> Characters are based on the books, but it doesn't really matter

Trying to fall asleep to the sound of shouting, Alec was used to it.But waking up to it? That was new. He knew his parents didn’t get along, hadn’t for some time, but he still hated that he and his siblings had to be subjected to the fighting, shouting, screaming, every night, and now it seemed every morning too.

Hard rain pattered against the window in his room and against the roof and walls,though it did little to drown out the noise. Groaning, he turned and grabbed for his phone: barely past 7 am. What the heck were his parents doing up so early on a Saturday for, anyway?

His stomach growled, but the last thing he wanted to do was venture into the kitchen for food, right in the middle of a war zone. Climbing out of bed, he quickly threw on a pair of jeans and a hoodie, brushed his teeth, and combed his hair.He wasn’t quite sure where he was going yet, but just in case he ran into someone he knew, he didn’t want to look completely like he’d just rolled out of bed.

He pocketed his keys and his phone from the nightstand and then quietly inched open his door. The shouting got louder, though he couldn’t make out what the fighting was in regards to this time (and when it came to his parents, it was usually stupid petty bullshit anyway). He snuck into the hall and just as quietly closed the door behind him. He thought of seeing if his siblings wanted to tag along, but they were most likely still sleeping - he would swear they could all sleep through anything, lucky jerks.

He tiptoed down the hallway and managed to sneak past the kitchen and out the front door without notice. If they wanted to know were he was going, they would have to stop fighting for five seconds to find out.

Alec was suddenly glad he’d given up his last four summers in order to work because it meant he’d been able to save up enough for his own car.He’d named it Archer, after his favorite book character and hobby, and received confused stares from both Jace and Isabelle.

“Why didn’t you name it Robin? You know, like Robin Hood?” Isabelle had wondered, and Alec had asked her to never again slander his poor car’s name by suggesting such a terrible one.

He threw his hood up and did an awkward half jog through the rain, while hoping no neighbors saw, yet still getting drenched in the process. When asked by almost everyone he knew why he never carried an umbrella, he changed the story every time, just to keep it interesting, like he didn’t want to make his hoodies jealous, or because he didn’t want to become a statistic by getting struck by lightening. In reality, he was just embarrassed to admit that one time he opened one and a spider fell out onto his head. That umbrella promptly went into the trash. Well, promptly after he’d freaked out.

As he started the car, he looked on his phone places that were currently serving breakfast that were close by, but not too expensive. Not being in the mood for fast food, he settled on a chain cafe that was famous for their bagels, even though he was really in the mood for pancakes, not bagels, then changed his mind and decided he definitely wanted pancakes, and suddenly remembered Taki’s, where he went with his siblings all the time.

It was unusually quiet for a Saturday morning, and Alec attributed that to the rain.One couple occupied a booth, while two middle-aged men, who appeared to be in a very heated conversation, sat at a table near the back.He found an open two-person table near a window and sat down as the waitress brought him a menu and a mug of coffee. He felt bad that he could never remember her name - Kylie? Kayla? - but then she could never remember his while she fawned all over Jace every time they came in, so he suddenly didn’t feel so bad anymore, and was just glad she didn’t ask why Jace wasn’t with him.

As he perused the menu to make sure he didn’t want something else besides pancakes, he looked up as the door opened and in walked a very tall, dark skinned man, elaborately dressed for a Saturday morning. His black hair was spiked up tall, and the black jacket he had on over a blue button down was trimmed in gold. The jeans he wore were so tight that they left little to the imagination. Alec couldn’t help staring.

The man looked around the restaurant, as if he were searching for someone, and his eyes locked with Alec’s. He dropped his gaze quickly, but not before feeling his skin start to flush, and he held the menu a little higher. He sensed the man walking his way and his heart thundered in his chest, but the man made no move to stop or call Alec out on his staring, and he walked past Alec to the back of the restaurant.

Alec let out a shaky breath, silently telling himself that he really needed to stop doing that, then almost jumped out of his chair as the waitress - Kaelie, that was her name - came to take his order. 

“Um, coconut pancakes, please,” he croaked, and handed her the menu.She took his menu and his order, her eyebrow quirking up at his sudden jumpiness, then turned without another word. 

He sipped his coffee as he waited, checking his phone in the meantime, but set his mug down as loud, hateful words pricked his ears. He was attuned to slurs and had no patience for them.He turned in his seat to see the two men who’d been talking earlier now hurling insults at the man Alec had been staring at and telling him to leave.The tall man had his back to them, facing Alec, and Alec could tell by his facial expression that he was trying not to engage but was getting more angry by the second. 

At that moment, Kaelie set down his pancakes and Alec stopped her before she could walk away. 

“Those men over there are bothering that customer,” he said and jerked his thumb.Kaelie, now noticing the situation, frowned. 

“Oh, I can get Clancy,” she suggested and started to turn.“No, it’s ok,” Alec said. He stood up and steeled himself.Normally when someone was being a bigoted asshole, Jace was there with his big ego and his even bigger mouth.But he couldn’t just leave the man to fend for himself. 

Alec was glad there weren’t many people in the restaurant, but the patrons who were there were definitely watching and waiting for something to happen.As more words were thrown at the man, he finally made to stand up, but Alec stepped in first. 

“Hey,” he said, projecting his voice over the two men.They stopped, and all eyes in the restaurant homed in on Alec.He gulped down his fear.“You can’t talk to him like that.”

Both men started laughing, and even the guy Alec was attempting to help raised an eyebrow at him.“What, are you going to stop me?” one of the men asked, and looked Alec up and down. 

“I mean, yeah, that’s kind of why I came over here,” Alec said, in a tone indicating that it should have been obvious, while pointing back to his tableThe one who spoke stood up, a few inches shorter than Alec but much heftier in size, but Alec didn’t back down, just crossed his arms in front of him, his icy blue eyes glaring down at the shorter man.The tall guy stood up too next to Alec, and he towered over the man, who suddenly looked as if he was regretting all his life choices. 

“Look, man, I don’t want to fight you,” Alec said and spread his arms.“But I will if I have to.”The two men started laughing again, and now Alec was really getting annoyed.His biggest pet peeve was people underestimating his abilities just because he was tall and lanky. 

The tall guy slung an arm on Alec’s shoulder and crossed one foot over the other.“My boyfriend here has a black belt in karate, so I would stop while you currently have all your teeth.”

Alec tried not to let the ‘boyfriend’ comment affect him, and the two bigots spluttered something homophobic about gay men inhabiting all their spaces.Before they could finish, the tall man cut them off.“All right, it’s time to go,” he said and held up a hand for them to shut up. 

“Hey,” the shorter man said and reached around Alec to shove the taller man with one beefy hand.“Don’t you—“

Before he could finish his sentence, Alec had taken hold of his beefy wrist and flipped the man up and over, landing him flat on his back on the floor of the restaurant, his boot on the man’s chest.The friend jumped out of his chair as the few patrons in the restaurant clapped and cheered.Alec removed his foot and the man on the floor scrambled to his feet, his face red and angry. 

“Come on, let’s go,” his friend said, giving him a shove, and they reluctantly walked out, muttering offensive epithets under their breath as they went.The patrons cheered again as the door closed behind the two.Alec let out another breath. 

“So boyfriend, can I buy you breakfast?”

Alec whipped around to see the tall man regarding him, his head tilted and propped in one hand.Alec’s mouth quirked up into a smile, and he was suddenly very glad he’d brushed his hair before he left the house.

“Ok,” he breathed, and the man gestured for him to sit. 

“Magnus,” he said and extended a bejeweled hand.

“Alec,” he smiled again, and shook it. Up close Alec could make out eyeliner and blue eye shadow that matched Magnus’s shirt and he felt his heart speed up.He was so handsome and _fancy_. 

“Sorry about all that.I come here all the time and I promise that’s a rare occurrence,” Alec said. "In fact, we don't have to stay if you're too shaken up to eat." 

“Many a mission to end great evil has failed because of low blood sugar,” Magnus said, wagging a finger. 

Alec thought about that. "But in this case, the great evil _was_ ended before we ate."

Magnus flapped a hand. "Semantics. Besides, if not for those bone-headed imbeciles, I would currently be alone on my date.”

“Your date?” Alec blinked.

“I mean, not my date. I’m hungover and getting breakfast.”

“You don’t look hungover.”

“Ok, fine, I was stood up.” Magnus rolled his eyes and dropped his head in his hand.

“Someone stood _you_ up?” Alec asked, shocked. “Was it a _blind_ date?”

Magnus snorted, but didn’t look so glum anymore about being stood up, which made Alec happy.Kaelie came by with the food Magnus had ordered when he’d sat down, and a new plate of pancakes for Alec.By the time they were done eating and talking, it was almost lunch, much to their surprise, and Alec had several missed calls and texts from every member of his family.He frowned at his phone, then stuck it back in his pocket.

“So, boyfriend,” Magnus joked as they walked outside together; the rain had stopped, leaving everything damp and sticky with humidity.“Are you going to make that face when _I_ call you?”

Alec’s heart fluttered every time Magnus said ‘boyfriend’ and he grinned at the joke.Holding up a finger, he indicated for Magnus to wait, and he walked to his car parked nearby and fished a pen out of his glove box.Silently, he took Magnus’s hand and wrote his number on his upturned palm.Before he could pull away, Magnus grasped Alec’s fingers in his own and bent his head to kiss the top of Alec’s hand, never breaking eye contact.Alec couldn’t stop the blush from forming, but he leaned forward anyway, placing a quick kiss to Magnus’s cheek. 

“I better go before my family sends a search party out,” he grinned as he pulled back. 

“Mmm, right, of course,” Magnus nodded vigorously, and waved the hand with Alec’s number on it.

Alec walked around to the driver’s side and got in, then waved back as he drove off.He watched in his mirror as Magnus gingerly touched his cheek, the blush high on his cheekbones, and Alec bit his lip and grinned, suddenly not caring so much that his parents had been fighting.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr @my-archerboy   
> 🖤💙


End file.
